UN chief in Cairo Monday to discuss Egypt's Gaza plan

World

Sunday 20 July 2014 - 2:26pm

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gives statements about Syria, Gaza and the downing of a Malaysian airline over Ukraine July 17, 2014 at UN headquarters in New York.
Photo: AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA

An Israeli army helicopter fires a missile into the Gaza Strip, flying along the border inside southern Israel, during heavy fighting 20 July 2014. Smoke at right is the helicopter dropping anti-missile flares.
Photo: EPA/JIM HOLLANDER

CAIRO - UN chief Ban Ki-moon will meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo Monday to discuss Egyptian proposal to end the deadly conflict in Gaza, the foreign ministry said.

More than 400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since July 8 as Israel presses its biggest offensive in the coastal strip in five years.

Talks between Ban, Sisi and other senior officials will "focus on the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire," the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

Hamas has laid out a set of conditions, including the lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade on Gaza, the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the release of scores of prisoners Israel re-arrested in recent weeks.

Hamas also wants its Turkish and Qatari allies to be involved in any truce negotiations.